The Professorial Procurement
by Boys3allC
Summary: Amy Farrah Fowler is about to get her doctorate from Harvard. She has not had the most exciting college life but she is fine with it. Until she meets a young enigmatic professor named Dr. Sheldon Cooper. He is everything that she ever dreamed of and everything that she can't have.
1. Chapter 1

Amy couldn't believe that in a few short weeks she would be presenting her thesis to the board. Then it would all be over. All her years of school were coming to a close. It felt bittersweet. She had been in school so long and it was finally ending, with her getting her doctorate.

At college she did not have many friends, but she didn't long for them . At Harvard everyone was tied up in their studies. They weren't socializing with her out of malice. Everyone was just to wrapped up in themselves to care about much else. That suited her just fine. Although, if she was being completely honest with herself she was a little disappointed that she was nearing the end of her college career and she had done none of the normal college stuff. She was twenty-two and she still had never been kissed.

Amy belonged to a study group that met every Thursday. While she couldn't call them her friends, as they never talked of anything outside of school, it felt nice to at least have peers to be social with.

Amy is on her way to the study group. When someone bumps into her hard enough to make her drop her bag and books."Hey!" she says defensively as the boy who bumped into her stops and looks at her confused.

"Yes?" he asks, his face impassive.

"You, just bumped into me." she informs him and a look of concern crosses his features.

"I did? I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere." he says and he crouches down and picks up one of her scattered books and hands it to her. Amy gathers her bag as she takes it from him. Their hands brush slightly, making a wave of heat flood her body. Shocked by her odd reaction Amy quickly looks up. Noting that the boy who bumped into her is quite handsome. He is tall, with broad shoulders, his eyes are large in his thin pale face. Color floods her cheeks as his blue eyes assess her curiously.

"It's fine, it happens to me, too." she says softly, standing up again and hugging her bag to her chest. Amy smiles shyly and nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. He gathers the few scattered papers at their feet. When he rises to hand her said papers, her breath is taken away by a beautiful lopsided smile. But it's gone so quickly she wonders if she had imagined it.

"If you're alright, then I'll be going now." he says. She just nods and he turns and walks away. Amy watches him leave and sighs. That was the most romantic thing that happened to her a. A mysterious beautiful stranger knocking her books to the ground. It was the closet she had ever come to holding a boy's hand. Now she could see what all the hoopla was about.

Amy tries unsuccessfully to to wipe the encounter form her thoughts. As she joins her study group. It's hard to focus thinking about the boys sapphire eyes. It's also hard to concentrate because two of the group's members are loudly complaining about their professor. It is a regular occurrence at the group with Amanda and Jen. They are both taking a physics class and the professor has a bad reputation amongst the students.

"Dr. Cooper is the worst!" Amanda complains as she taps her pencil on her notebook.

"You complain about him every Thursday. What does he do that is so bad?" Amy asks, a little sick of their constant belly aching. School was almost over and she thought that they should be used to their professor by now.

"For starters he is the same age as us only, he has a **B.S.** , M.S., M.A. a **Ph.D.** and a Sc.D. Which he reminds us of every class! That and how much better he is than us." Jen tells her while rolling her eyes.

"He wants a 5000 word essay on quantum loop gravity ready by next week." she whines, Amy doesn't understand the problem.

"So, just write it." Amy tells her and she rolls her eyes at her.

"5000 words in five days?" Jen asks annoyed.

"So tell him you think it's unfair." Amy shrugs.

"I did. I told him that it was impossible! And you know what he said?" Jen says.

"What?" Amy sighs.

"Nothing's impossible only guy is a crackpot! I honestly don't know why they let him teach." Jen says in exasperation.

" How can he be a professor at only… what? Twenty-two?" Amy asks confused. She thought she was advanced by being almost done with her doctorate at only twenty-two.

"He was a child prodigy, Got his doctorate at only sixteen. This is his first year teaching and he just isn't cut out for it." Amanda sighs. "Let's talk about anything else. Just thinking about Dr. Cooper makes my head hurt."

Amy doesn't think that Professor sounds that bad at all. She finds herself siding with him while her friends complain about him. Intrigued by what her friends had said about him she decides to find out more on her own.

When she gets back to her dorm she logs onto the university server. She looks up Dr. Cooper hoping to see a picture of him. Much to her disappointment she discovers the university has yet to upload a picture. It does give a detailed bio of him and she finds herself fascinated. The pages have links to some of the papers he has written and she finds herself engrossed in his work. The man is brilliant, that's for sure, and insightful, and even a few of his footnotes are quite funny.

Amy just can't reconcile the monster professor her friends had described. With the man behind these papers. Neither Amanda or Jen had a real passion for physics. They had only taken the course to round out their resumes. Amy thought that was where the discord was. It was clear from the papers she read. That Dr. Cooper was passionate about his work. That he probably was able to sense the lack of enthusiasm in his class and feed off it. Amy thinks that if she wasn't so close to her graduation date that she might have tried to squeeze in one of his classes. Just to meet the man behind the legend.

If it's possible to fall in love with someone you've never met, Amy thought that she might be falling in love. With both the wunderkind professor and the boy who had nearly knocked her down. Infatuated with the words of Dr. Cooper and the handsome form of her mysterious stranger.

Over the next few days Amy started seeing her mysterious stranger all around campus. He was easy to spot as his height made him stand above the other students. She would like to think it was because he was following her, only he never noticed her. He was oblivious to the world around him. Usually his nose was stuck in a book. If he wasn't reading he was rushing somewhere head straight forward never looking around. One time she had seen him strolling dreamily as if in a trance, talking to himself. Then he stopped picked up a frisbee someone was throwing around. Exclaimed something about atoms and walked away with the person's frisbee.

He was peculiar for sure, but it only made him more interesting to Amy. She wanted to know everything about him. The only things she could deduce from observation was that his major was in the sciences. That he had a class in the science center at 9:30 and at 3:30 because she had seen him there at those times nearly every day. It had crossed her mind to follow him at a distance to see where he went. Only that was crossing the line from admirer to stalker.

It was her first encounter with an unrequited love. She knew she was being ridiculous. Mooning over some guy who had only handed her a book. He probably didn't even remember the encounter, that was ingrained in her brain. Over the next couple of weeks she can't stop herself from imagining the relationship that could be. He would be the ideal boyfriend. Kind, caring, smart as a whip and able to challenge her intellectually. He would take an interest in her day. Calling her every night just to hear her voice. He would take her on dates to the museum, to the bookstore, to the movies. They would drink tea and talk for hours. Amy was starting to believe that the real man would pale in comparison to the version of him she had dreamed up.

Feeling lonely on Saturday night she decides to take herself on a date to the bookstore. There was one she liked to visit that was walking distance from campus. Inside the store there was also a small cafe. An evening sipping tea engrossed in the pages of a new book might be just what doctor ordered to nurse her ailing heart.

When she gets to the bookstore she stands outside for a moment. Admiring the way the stores yellow lights glow in the twilight air. It's chilly out and she can't wait to be in the stores cozy fold. Gazing into the stores window she notices someone standing at one of the shelves with his back to her. The unmistakable back of her mysterious stranger. After following at his back for so long. She would know the shape of his shoulders and the slope of his neck anywhere. Part of her wants to turn on her heel and run away. The other part knows that this might be her only chance to speak with him again.

"Come on Amy, be brave." she begs herself as she wills her body to move towards the door. Once she is in the door it almost feels like her body is moving on it's own volition. Drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. He is standing in front of the philosophy section holding a book.

"Gottfried Leibniz.. Transcendental Law of Homogeneity. You must be a fan of philosophy and mathematics." Amy says behind him making him jump.

"You're aware of Gottfried Leibniz?" he says skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, he refined the use of infinitesimal calculus. However, he's not my favorite philosopher." she shrugs.

"Let me guess? That would be Simone de Beauvoir?" he says turning his full attention to her.

"I'm insulted that just because I'm a woman you assume that." Amy says folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head up to look at him.

"Now you've piqued my curiosity, may I have a second guess?" he asks seriously.

"Of course." she smirks.

"I'm changing my answer to Nietzsche." he says confidently. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." he quotes.

"Again, I am slightly insulted. While I do love Nietzsche , it appears you assume I only have knowledge gleamed from a high school philosophy course." Amy tells him and he smiles at her. That coupled with his quote, make her heart race and her knees weak.

"Then do tell, who is your favorite philosopher?" he asks her.

"Francis Bacon." she fires back.

"Ah, so you're a scientist." he states rubbing his chin.

"A neuroscientist to be exact." Amy tells him proudly. "May I hazard a guess at your favorite philosopher?" Amy asks and he looks amused.

"As, I hold a doctorate in philosophy. I doubt you would be able to guess. However I would love to see you try." he challenges and Amy suddenly feels very nervous. He looks so young how does he already hold a doctorate in philosophy?

"I'm going to deduce that it is Immanuel Kant." Amy says remembering how he mentioned it in one of his papers footnotes. He looks at her shocked.

"Lucky guess." he murmurs.

"I don't believe in luck." Amy says not wanting to admit she was sort of stalking him and he looks impressed.

"May I buy you a beverage?" he asks still a bit awestruck.

"That depends." Amy says coyly proud of her new found flirting ability.

"Depends on what?" he asks looking slightly wounded.

"I'm not in the habit of letting strangers buy me drinks and I don't even know your name." she says smiling brightly. His surprised look making her suppress a laugh.

"How rude of me, of course. I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Professor of physics at Harvard." he says extending his hand which Amy takes and shakes. The same warm tingle spreading through her body as their skin touches. Amy is momentarily dumbfounded. Discovering that the two men she had been harboring a secret torch for were, in fact. one in the same. The mysterious stranger was the same man as the enigmatic professor.

"Amy Farrah Fowler." she says feeling suddenly shy around him. "You look awfully young to be a professor."

"I am, but I got my first doctorate at the age of sixteen. So I am ahead of the game. Now that we are no longer strangers may I buy you that beverage?" he asks with a look so hopeful she knows there's no denying him.

"Certainly." Amy says following him to the counter of the cafe.

"Two hot chocolates please." he tells the barista then he looks stricken and turns to Amy. "I hope you don't mind? I love a hot chocolate."

"I don't mind." Amy assures him as they take their drinks and find an empty table.

"You look familiar, have we met before?" he asks her and she decides to fess up.

"Very briefly. You nearly knocked me to the ground outside the Cabot Science library." Amy reminds him and he nods his head.

"Ah, I remember now. It was October 10th at six o'clock, I was on my way to the Birkhoff and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I knocked a copy of _In search of Lost Time_ by Proust out of your hands." he says blowing on his drink. Amy finds herself distracted by the shape of his lips and has to quickly tear her eyes away.

"That's amazing! How did you remember all that?" she asks wondering if maybe she had effected him the same way he had her.

"I have an eidetic memory. I remember everything." he tells her sounding cocky. "I remember being impressed by your interest in Proust."

"Part of my thesis is based in Proust and his work." Amy says smiling proudly and slowly taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Fascinating, I would love to read it sometime." Sheldon says softly.

"I would love for you to read it." Amy says eagerly. "I must admit I've read some of your work by chance. I was very impressed with it. Even though I'm not that interested in theoretical physics."

"You came across my work by chance?" he asks with a raised brow.

"Alright, I'll admit it. Your reputation proceeds itself and a few of the members of my study group were talking about their physics professor and I got curious. I had no idea that Dr. Cooper was you." Amy admits, spilling the beans.

"I'm afraid you must have heard some rather poor things about me. As it seems I am not a very popular teacher." Sheldon sighs. "It's one of the few vocations I don't have a high aptitude in. To be honest, I just don't have any passion for the education of inferior minds." he confesses. It's an arrogant statement that's for sure. If anyone else had spoken them she might have even been turned off by it. Somehow coming out of his mouth it sounded right.

"What would you prefer to be doing?" she asks curious.

"Research, my services would be better employed pondering the mysteries of the universe. Not fruitlessly trying to educate grad students. I've applied to several colleges and I'm hopeful I'll have a new position next year. I'm only contracted with Harvard this one year." he says tiredly.

"I won't be at Harvard next year either." Amy tells him.

"Have you accepted a new position yet?" he asks curiously and she looks at him confused.

"I have to get my doctorate first. Once I get that I'm applying to a few schools back home. I'm hopeful that UCLA or Caltech could use me." she says.

"You're still a student? I thought you were still a professor like myself." he asks truly shocked by this revelation.

"We can't all be child prodigies. Some of us have to settle on being a run of the mill genius." Amy tells him and he smiles at her shyly.

"I doubt anything about you could be described as run of the mill." he says, his voice dropping deeper sounding very flirtatious. Amy blushes and takes a sip of her drink to hide her grin.

"Twenty-two is still a commendable age to be getting a doctorate." Amy tells him and he nods in agreement.

"To say I was fast tracked is putting it lightly." he replies then checks his watch. "I'm sorry to say this Miss. Fowler, but I really must be on my way. Would you mind exchanging contact information with me? I am still very interested in reading your thesis." he tells her taking out a business card from his wallet and writing something on the back. "This is all my information. I have included my direct phone number and my personal email. I might not see it if you send anything to the university's email. It will get lost with all the students."

"Thank you. Here. Let me write down mine." Amy says, rummaging through her bag and finding a scrap of paper and a pen. Carefully she writes everything down and hands it to him.

"You're handwriting is impeccable." he compliments and Amy has to hide another grin, but unfortunately there's no hiding her blush.

"I've had a lot of practice." Amy tells him thinking of all the lonely nights spent perfecting her penmanship.

"It shows." he says before extending his hand one last time. "Goodnight, Amy Farrah Fowler." he says shaking her hand for an extended time. Both reluctant to say goodbye and both sensing an electricity in the air.

"Goodnight, Dr. Cooper." she tells him shaking his hand and slowly letting go. He walks towards the door, but looks over his shoulder one last time. Sheldon smiles shyly at being caught looking, then he is gone. Leaving her beaming and shaking at the cafe table. She pinches herself to make sure she was not dreaming. The responding pink mark on her arm assures her that this is in fact real life.

Once she has herself together she gathers her things and makes her way to her small studio apartment. Thankful she doesn't have a roommate to ask her a ton of questions. Like how her normally solemn face is fixed in a brilliant smile. All she wants to do is contact him immediately. Then part of her brain stops her. Telling her that he was just being nice to her. That a man like Dr. Cooper has better things to do than read her thesis. Then the other part of her brain told her that Dr. Cooper did not seem like the kind of man who did anything just to be nice.

Turning on her computer she goes to her email. With the intention of emailing Dr. Cooper a copy of her work. Then she sees that she has a new email from Dr. Cooper already. Her heart thumping wildly she opens it up.

 _Amy,_

 _I enjoyed meeting with you today. I find myself wishing you were one of my students. Then maybe I would have someone in my classes with a spark of intelligence. I also find myself disappointed that you are a student instead of a colleague. Then I would have a co-worker to converse with. I would say that you are beyond your years. Only you're only a year younger than myself. I look forward to speaking with you further._

 _Regards,_

 _Dr. Sheldon Cooper_

Amy reads it again several times. Wishing that it was an old fashioned letter. So she could press it to her breast and sleep with it under her pillow. Like the heroine would in one of her historical romance novels. Instead she starts a letter in reply. Writing it out and deleting it several times before she is happy with the result.

 _Dr. Cooper,_

 _I enjoyed meeting with you today as well. It is rare that I get to converse with anyone as engaging as yourself. I too find myself wishing you were in my classes. Or I was in yours. You have a unique ability to make all manner of subjects interesting._

 _Best regards,_

 _(soon to be Dr.) Amy Farrah Fowler_

 _P.s. That is not the first time I have been accused of being beyond my years. It is however the first time the claim has been made by someone my own age._

 _P.p.s. I have attached a copy of my thesis for your perusal._

Amy hits send and feels like her heart falls to her stomach. Imaging all the ways this could go wrong. He is a professor and she is just his student. Only he's not her professor and their is no rule against speaking with the are just striking up a communication based on mutual admiration. There was nothing romantic about their communication so far.

What if something romantic developed? What happened then? The outcomes as infinite as the many-worlds outcomes theory. All she knows for sure is that this flirtation with the mysterious Dr. Cooper, is the best thing that has happened to her the entire time she's been at college. That whatever happens next, she is just glad that something is finally happening.

Sheldon's side

Two months into his stint at Harvard and Sheldon knows he has made a terrible mistake. His mother had convinced him to take the position. Excited to be able to brag to her friends that her son would be a Professor at Harvard. A school that everyone had heard of and knew how exclusive it was. One of his aunts had thought Caltech was a technical college. That he was trying to get into refrigerator repair. She had made the case that he would be happier staying on the east coast. That at Harvard he would be around people of his peer group. Maybe be even be able to make a few friends.

So far she had been wrong on all accounts. He was not happier on the east coast, especially not in Cambridge. He hated the cold. It was April and it was still chilly at night. As much as he hated the sweaty sticky heat of Texas summers. He was convinced he would hate the freezing snowy winters here even more.

Sheldon also found that he was as peerless at Harvard as he had been everywhere else. His students didn't respect him, thinking it was unfair they were being taught by someone their own age. In their minds a physics professor should be an elderly gentleman. Wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches. Not a twenty-three year old man wearing a blazer over his superman t-shirt. He could tell they snickered at him behind his back. His colleagues were just as bad. They resented having him come in and fill a position they had been working their entire lives for. They didn't like him and they didn't respect him.

Sheldon found himself feeling more lonesome here than anywhere he had been before. So he did his best to distract and amuse himself. He gave out assignments that were impossible to finish. He made out quizzes that no one could pass. Hoping that one of his students would impress him. So far no one had. So far everyone he had meet while he was here had been a disappointment.

All his students did was complain that he was unfair. Some had even flat out refused to finish their assignments, claiming they were impossible tasks. Then when he said nothing was impossible just improbable and if they put their minds to it they could solve it he was met with glares.

Tonight he is on his way to the Birkhoff Library where he liked to spend his Thursday nights. It was better than sitting in his bleak quarters alone. The school provided him with housing, that was a little better than a dorm room. He had a small kitchen, a postage stamp-sized sitting area with a desk, and sleeping quarters. He hadn't taken much with him in his move from Texas, uncertain how long he intended to stay at Harvard. It was the right move as he did not see himself staying here beyond the year. However it made his place a boring place to be. So he spent as much time as he could out, only returning for sleep. The Birkhoff was his favorite of the libraries on campus. It housed all the mathematical tomes. He always seemed to find something new to interest him there.

Sheldon is lost in his thoughts. Thinking about the 5000 word essay he assigned his students today. He had hoped that it would spur his students to challenge themselves. Instead it seemed to have sparked a mini revolt. He is thinking about how he can win back his students when he hears someone yell out.

"Hey!" angrily at him confused when he sees a girl struggling with papers and books scattered all around her.

"Yes?" he asks wearily, thinking that she might be one of his students tracking him down on his off time to complain about his coursework.

"You just bumped into me." she tells him gesturing to the scattered papers at her feet. He had bumped into a woman hard enough to scatter her possessions and he hadn't even noticed. She looks unharmed. That was good.

"I did? I'm sorry. My mind was elsewhere." he says.

Then he crouches down and picks up one of her scattered books and hands it to her. Proust, he notes, impressed by her selection. Their hands brush as she reaches out and takes it from him. Unwanted physical contact always sends him into a tailspin. He never touches anyone if he can avoid it, for fear of germs. This touch sends him into a different kind of tailspin, he had never experienced before. He feels like he has been shocked with a jolt of electricity and his pulse starts to race. Confused by his odd reaction at a momentary touch, he look looks down at the girl, who at the same time looks up at him.

Sheldon is immediately enchanted. The girl has large green eyes framed by even larger glasses. Her brown hair cascades over her shoulders framing her lovely face. A twinge of pink colors her pale cheeks and she looks away breaking the spell.

"It's fine, it happens to me, too." she says softly, standing up again clutching her bag to her chest. The girl smiles a sweet shy smile that tugs at something deep inside of him. She nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. Not ready to leave her yet, he gathers the few scattered papers at their feet.

" _It doesn't happen to me."_ he thinks as he hands her the papers. He doesn't lose track of his surroundings. He doesn't dillydally so he can converse with strange girls. He most certainly doesn't ever find himself wanting to be closer to anyone, ever. Unnerved by his odd reaction to this girl he has the sudden urge to flee. "If you're alright, then I'll be going now." he says and she nods. He turns around and walks as fast away from her as possible.

" _Whatever that was it must never happen again."_ he thinks as he walks briskly the cold wind whipping at his cheeks. He has walked almost a quarter mile when he realizes he has walked in the opposite direction of the Birkhoff. In fact he is almost to his living quarters by the time he notices. "Drat." he sighs giving up and heading home.

All night he thinks about the girl from his encounter. Was she a student or fellow professor? Sheldon had never been good at guessing ages or reading facial expressions. In his classroom he liked to pretend that all his students had one face. It was easier for him not to feel overwhelmed that way. He logs onto the university server and tries to find a match for her face amongst the professors in the colleges employ without luck. Finally he decides that he is being ridiculous. What would he do once he found the girl again? What was it that he wanted from her? These were questions that he didn't have answers for so he decides to put her out of his mind.

Over the next few weeks he gets so engrossed in his work that the girl is pushed from his thoughts. He is on the cusp of a great discovery and he can feel it. It consumes everything he does. His teaching taking a backseat to his research. He assigns his students small tasks and shows slides. So that he can spend his time more wisely.

Walking through the quad one day he sees two people tossing a frisbee back and forth. It reminds him of the movement of atoms. Fascinated he stops and watches them for a bit. When the frisbee goes of course and hits his feet he picks it up. "The atoms move in a fluid motion!" he exclaims. Taking the frisbee with him to examine in his classroom. He spends the entire class making the frisbee sail around the room and taking notes. The students are whispering that he is losing his mind but he doesn't care. He is on the cusp of a great discovery.

Then just as quickly the idea is gone. There is an error in his calculations that he can't reconcile. The weeks of research have been for nothing. He always feels odd after a spell like that. It's almost like he goes into a trance. Long stretches of time are lost to him while his mind ponders a problem. It's like his body gets put on autopilot. While his brain works on more important matters.

His students seem to like him better after being treated to several weeks of little to no course work. However Sheldon feels hollow, bored and drained. After the week he has had he decides to get out a little on Saturday. Normally he just reserves Saturdays for his laundry night. The campus laundry room is blissfully empty on weekends nights. He has some time before it clears out so he takes a walk to the bookstore. There is a quote by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz "He who hasn't tasted bitter things hasn't earned sweet things." in his Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays that he wants to look at. It seems to fit how he is feeling right now. It feels like lately he has only tatsted the bitter lately, Of course he remembers it but there is something about looking at it in a book that is strangely satisfying. He could go to one of the libraries on campus to search for it. Going to the bookstore seemed like more of an adventure.

The book store is quiet on a Saturday night. He heads over to the philosophy section and looks at the titles. He picks up the book he is looking for and thumbs to the exact page he needs. He reads the quote and closes the book. The words on page don't have the comforting effect he was searching for and he sighs as he shuts it. Then he hears a voice behind him. A low soothing voice he swears he has heard before.

"Gottfried Leibniz.. Transcendental Law of Homogeneity. You must be a fan of philosophy and mathematics." she says and he turns around. It's the girl from weeks earlier. The one he had knocked to the ground.

"You're aware of Gottfried Leibniz?" he asks impressed with her already. He wonders if she remembers him. Not everyone had a memory like his and their interaction had been so brief.

"Of course, he refined the use of infinitesimal calculus. However, he's not my favorite philosopher." she shrugs. Intrigued by her he wants to find out more.

"Let me guess? That would be Simone de Beauvoir?" he guesses Simone is a favorite amongst most young educated women.

"I'm insulted that just because I'm a woman you assume that." The girl says folding her arms over her chest and lifting her head up to look at him. Every word out of the girls mouth only intrigues him more. She is not your typical female and he likes it. She is also the first person he has ever found himself wanting to know more about.

"Now you've piqued my curiosity, may I have a second guess?" he asks her seriously. Racking his brain trying to think what sort of school of thought she belonged to. He decides to take the easy route guessing the favorite of many graduate students.

"Of course." she smirks.

"I'm changing my answer to Nietzsche." he says confidently. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." he quotes. It's a favorite line amongst females. He's never really cared about the great philosophers thoughts on love. A subject that has never been interesting to him. Until now as he faces off with this small and feisty powerhouse of a woman.

"Again, I am slightly insulted. While I do love Nietzsche , it appears you assume I only have knowledge gleamed from a high school philosophy course." she tells him and he can't help the smile that spreads over his face. This woman is beguiling him.

"Then do tell, who is your favorite philosopher?" he asks her.

"Francis Bacon." she fires back. Sheldon is impressed by her choice.

"Ah, so you're a scientist." he states rubbing his chin. Trying to figure her out. She must be one of the school's professors. It makes him wish he had attended one of the faculty mixers they held.

"A neuroscientist to be exact. May I hazard a guess at your favorite philosopher?" she asks innocently. Amused, he decides to let her try.

"I'm going to deduce that it is Immanuel Kant." she says smiling. A mysterious quirk of a smile that rivals the Mona Lisa's. How could she possibly have known that, it's unnerving.

"Lucky guess." he murmurs, trying not to smile.

"I don't believe in luck." she tells him, sealing his fate. There was no way he was going to let her walk away from him. Talking with her feels like speaking with an old friend. Like they have known each other forever.

"May I buy you a beverage?" he asks. He has ever asked a woman to share a drink with him before. He wants to let her know that this is not a common occurrence, but he doesn't know how.

"That depends." she says and he is taken aback. He hadn't thought he would be rejected. The thought of her possible rejection sends an odd chill through him.

"Depends on what?" he asks feeling wounded.

"I'm not in the habit of letting strangers buy me drinks and I don't even know your name." she says giving him a coquettish grin. Of course, he thinks relieved. As much as it feels like he has known her a long time. They have only just met, and haven't even been formally introduced.

"How rude of me, of course. I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Professor of physics at Harvard." he says extending his hand politely. Shaking hands normally bothers him. When she takes his hand he feels none of his normal revulsion.

"Amy Farrah Fowler." she says letting his hand go. Then she looks up at him shyly. "You look awfully young to be a professor."

"I am, but I got my first doctorate at the age of sixteen. So I am ahead of the game. Now that we are no longer strangers may I buy you that beverage?" he again hopeful she won't refuse him again.

"Certainly." Amy says following him to the counter of the cafe.

"Two hot chocolates please." he says ordering for the both of them. Then he looks at her worried. He had no idea what social protocol dictated. Should he have let her order for herself? "I hope you don't mind? I love a hot chocolate . I only order them in months with a R in them."

"I don't mind." Amy assures him as they take their drinks and find an empty table.

"You look familiar, have we met before?" he asks her, knowing why she is familiar but curious if she remembers the encounter.

"Very briefly. You nearly knocked me to the ground outside the Cabot Science library." Amy reminds him and he nods his head, glad that she remembers him. He recounts the day they met for her and he can tell she is impressed. He tells her how impressed he was by her interest in Proust and she tells him about her thesis. He wants to read it badly, even though biology was not normally an interest of his. Reading someone's work tells you a lot about them. Right now he wants to know everything he can about the woman in front of him. She told him that she was a neuroscientist, he wonders if she teaches it or is one of the universities researchers.

"Fascinating, I would love to read it sometime." Sheldon tells her truthfully. Becoming momentarily fascinated by her lips tentatively sipping her drink. He shakes himself out of his stupor just before she looks back up.

"I would love for you to read it." Amy says eagerly. "I must admit I've read some of your work by chance. I was very impressed with it. Even though I'm not that interested in theoretical physics." she says looking down at her hands. He is not the best at reading expressions but he would take this one for embarrassment though he doesn't know why. He is a prominent scientist and his works are available to read. Though he is a tad surprised she acted like she didn't know him yet had read his work.

"You came across my work by chance?" he asks with a raised brow. She admits that she had heard about him from his reputation on campus. Before knowing who he was. It bothers him that she must have heard bad things about him. He knew that he was not popular amongst his students. He hoped the hearsay of a few students would not color her opinion about him.

"I'm afraid you must have heard some rather poor things about me. As it seems I am not a very popular teacher." Sheldon sighs. "It's one of the few vocations in which I don't have a high aptitude. To be honest, I just don't have any passion for the education of inferior minds."

"What would you prefer to be doing?" she asks. It is a question he had been pondering a lot himself lately. What he was doing now is what he thought he was preparing himself to do. Now that he was actually doing it, he was finding out he had no passion for it and it's been disheartening. However he had heard of a few research position that would be better suited to him. He was better off making his own discoveries than teaching about other people's discoveries. He tells her about the universities he is applying to. She tells him that she is leaving Harvard too. When he asks more about it she reveals that she is still just a student.

"You're still a student? I thought you were a professor like myself." he asks truly shocked by this revelation. There was something about her that seemed much older than him. Then he reminds himself that he is very young to be in his position and she could still very well be much older than him.

"We can't all be child prodigies. Some of us have to settle on being a run of the mill genius." Amy tells him and he smiles at her. There was nothing run of the mill about her and he tells her so. "Twenty-two is still a commendable age to be getting a doctorate." Amy adds on looking almost embarrassed and he nods in agreement. She was very young to be as far as she was. Not everyone had the start that he did that allowed him to be where he was. Sometimes, when he's feeling lonely, he wonders if it might have been better to go along at the pace of his peers. Then he comes to his senses.

"To say I was fast tracked is putting it lightly." he replies then checks his watch. They've been talking so long that it's well into his laundry time. If he leaves now he will just finish before dinner and bedtime. He feels a pang at having to leave her. Something he's never experienced before. There is still so much he wants to know about her. He knows he isn't strictly supposed to fraternize with the students at the school. In fact it had been one of the reservations they had discussed with him upon his hire. He had assured the Dean that he had no desire to mingle with the student body and he would be strictly professional. However, Miss. Fowler was not one of his students and he was sure it wasn't against the rules to advise other grads. So he decides to give her his business card. There was no harm in doing that. After he hands it to her he worries that if she does choose to email him, It might get lost in the shuffle all his students. So he makes the even riskier decision to give out his personal information. Then deal with any repercussions later.

"Thank you. Here. Let me write down mine." she tells him pulling out a scrap of paper and writing down her information.

"You're handwriting is impeccable." the compliment sliding out of his mouth.

"I've had a lot of practice." she answers shyly.

"It shows." he says before extending his hand one last time. "Goodnight, Amy Farrah Fowler." he says shaking her hand for an extended time. Something deep within him unwilling to let go.

"Goodnight, Dr. Cooper." she says softly, as she lets go.

Sheldon walks towards the door, but looks over his shoulder one last time. There was certainly something about her. She catches him looking and he nods at her embarrassed before he opens the door and leaves. The chill in the air is brutal. As he walks back to campus he daydreams about California and mild winters. Amy said she was from California and hoped to go back next year. If they both went, then he would already have a friend there.

Was she his friend? He wondered, she was more of a friend than anyone he had met in a long time. He pulls out the scrap of paper she wrote her information on and enters it into his blackberry. Instead of throwing the paper away he tucks it back in his pocket. He can't stop thinking about her. Reliving the encounter with her over and over again in his head. He decides to fire her off a quick email before heading back out to the laundry room. To let her know how much he enjoyed speaking with her.

Amy emails him back quicker than he expected with a copy of her wishes he had brought along his laptop so he could read her thesis while he finishes his task. It feels like the rest of his laundry takes forever. He rushes through folding it and carried his basket back to his room. Part of him wants to just set the folded laundry on the floor and worry about it later. So he can read Miss Fowler's thesis. The larger part of his brain won't allow such a breach in routine. So he quickly puts everything away and makes himself some dinner. Then sits down at his computer and opens up the document.

The more he reads the more impressed he is with her work. Normally the human sciences don't intrigue him. However her in depth research on memories pulls him in. Before he knows it it is well past his bedtime. He closes his laptop and rubs his eyes. Tomorrow is Sunday and he knows he'll spend the rest of the day finishing her paper.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amy doesn't hear from Dr. Cooper on Sunday. She can't stop worrying that he has read her paper and hated it. Amy thinks her thesis is solid. It's not quite finished, she still needs to find a subject to test some of her hypothesis on. Suddenly it hits her that Dr. Cooper would be the perfect subject for her tests.

"Dr. Cooper!" Amy yells flagging him down as he rushes along t another class. He stops and turns around annoyed at first then he smiles when he sees it is her,

"Miss Fowler, what a pleasure. I thought you were another student coming to complain about my assignment." he tells her and she laughs, there would be complaints about Professor Cooper in her study group again.

"No complaints from me. I just wanted to ask you a favor. You can say no if you want to." Amy starts nervously.

"Of course , I can say no, I could also say yes. We won't know the outcome until the question is asked." he says.

"Right, I am about to present my thesis and I was wondering if I could go through a trial run with you? You've presented to the board and I was hoping you could give me some pointers?"

"It do have a lot of first hand knowledge on the subject."

"Exactly, so you'll do it?" she asks hopefully.

"I'm not sure." he says stroking his chin.

"Oh." Amy says disappointed.

"As part of the faculty I'm not sure if I'm allowed to prep students." he muses then he throws his hands up in the air. "What's life without a little fun. I'll do it."

"Great! I'll email you the details as soon as I have them. I'll start after spring break." The break starts tomorrow.

"Are you going away for spring break?" he asks her looking at her with his blues eyes speculative.

"No, I wanted to go back home but with my thesis deadline looming I thought it would be smarter to stay here, I'll be back in california permanently in the summer I can wait. My family was never big on celebrating the holidays anyways. How about you? Are you going anywhere?" she says feeling like she is rambling.

"My family wants me to go home to Texas. I however am choosing to stay put. I've never liked celebrations. No need to waste money flying to be miserable." he says looking down.

"Perhaps we'll run into each other while on break?" Amy asks hopefully.

"Perhaps." he says mysteriously and his watch beeps. " Oh dear! I must be onto class." he exclaims.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you." Amy says embarrassed turning to leave. She is a few paces away when she hears Sheldon shout.

"Miss Fowler?" he asks.

"Yes, Professor Cooper?"

"If you were to run into me. By chance. It might happen while I'm eating dinner. Like on Monday nights because when I have chicken satay at the Dragon Palace on Western ave."

"Noted, Professor Cooper." Amy says turning back around coyly.

"I eat at seven." she hears him call and she raises her hand up to let him know she heard him. If she turns around her face will be split in an embarrassing grin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Thank you for sticking with me through this long break. I've been suffering through a bad bout of writers block/melancholy. I hope you enjoy the update leave,**

 **A big thanks to my bestie beta CLLOW82 for sticking with me and editing this for me.**

Friday is the start of Sheldon's vacation. Normally he detests taking breaks from his work. When he was young he used to try and sneak back into the school during summer break. Unwilling to let his education be over for three whole months. Even when he entered college he hated spring and summer break. In fact he rarely took a summer one, opting to stay for summer sessions and further his education. Besides he hated going home, he found the solitude of the emptied campus preferable to a summer of sitting idle amongst idiots. This would be the first break he had taken in a long time.

Sheldon needs it because at twenty-three he already feels like he is at a crossroads. He has reached the all his goals. Gotten all the degrees he sought to get. Doing exactly what he thought he wanted to be doing. Only he hates it. It is said that teaching is a career of passion. While he is passionate about physics. He abhors his students. He can tell that they feel the same way about him.

He knows for certain that he will not be here next year. It is figuring out where he wants to go next that he can't decide on. Rice University has just offered him a research position. It's a tempting offer. One that would put him back exactly where he started. In a place he never felt like he belonged. They want him to make a decision quickly. He feels like he has no one to discuss it with. If he tells his mother she will be on her knees begging him to accept the position, he knows how much she worries about him being so far from home.

The job he really wants is the one at Caltech. A job that will take him across country. His mother won't like that one bit. He can already hear her begging him not to go. Berating him with all the evils of the heathen state that is California. That alone might be enough to make him reconsider Caltech. The bigger reason is, he has yet to hear back from them. Refusing Rice now hoping to hear from Caltech later. Would be what his Meemaw called "counting his chickens before they hatched."

Sheldon can't help but feel that Caltech is where he belonged. If he believed in such things he would say it was his destiny. He didn't believe in destiny however. Instead he chose to believe that all of his very specific requirements would be met there. He had researched the school extensively. It had the perfect climate, not too hot, or too cold. Their research methodologies were top notch. It just seemed like where he should be. Where he might finally be happy.

Sheldon wants to talk it over with someone. He wished he had someone he could talk to. His mother was so proud of him for working at Harvard. His Meemaw wanted him to stay at least on the same coast as her. His brother and sister wouldn't care. Sheldon felt like he had no one else to talk to about it.

For a second he considers calling Miss Fowler. She would be the kind of person who could offer sound advice. The only thing stopping Sheldon is that he has vowed to himself, that he would not think about Amy all weekend. He showed poor enough judgement by inviting her to join him for a beverage. As a Professor he should not be fraternizing with the students. He thinks back to his interview for the position.

" _I am thoroughly impressed with your academics Dr. Cooper. I think you would be an excellent addition to our institution however your age has me second guessing myself." The President said to him looking at him over his glasses._

" _I have more of an education than most people twice my age. If its experience you're worried about I have been working as a TA at Rice since I received my first PhD at sixteen." Sheldon told him. "I have the reference right here."_

" _No, I saw that. Dr. Cooper… Here at Harvard we hold ourselves to a higher standard. We won't tolerate any shall we say impropriety between our staff and the students. Seeing as though you're the same age as many of our grad students. The concern is that you will not be able to make that separation." Sheldon was shocked. He supposed some in his position might use it as an excuse to flex their power over young impressionable minds. Sheldon had no desire to try and woo students._

" _I assure you. I have no desire to mingle with the co-eds. I had no desire to mingle with the co-eds when I was in college. My focus will be entirely on my work and nothing else. You can expect no impropriety from me." Sheldon assured him and the President looked sufficiently mollified._

" _I'll take you at your word Dr. Cooper. Welcome to our faculty."_

Now here he was nearly a year after that initial interview and he found himself going back on his words. He was actively seeking the company of one of the schools students. Miss Fowler not being his own student is how he is justifying the possible dinner they might share. That and the fact he did not directly invite her to a dinner. He simply told her where he would be. If she happened to show up, well who was he to tell a student where she could and couldn't dine.

For the first time, in a long time, maybe in his entire life. Sheldon doesn't want to think. There is so much looming over his head. That he just wants to run away from it all. So he goes to the store and stocks up on food and supplies. All his favorite things he usually only has in moderation. Red vines, oreos, kool-aid, all the foods of his short childhood. Then when he gets home he starts up his game. There is a quest that he has been wanting to start, but he hasn't had the time. Now is the perfect time to start.

"Sheldor the Conqueror is online." he announces into his headset.

"Wolowizard is online." one of his teammates announces. Sheldon has played with Wolowizard on his team several times. He is glad to see that he is on his team again.

"Are you ready to begin the quest." he asks into the microphone.

"I was born ready." Wolowizard announces and he hears him cracking his knuckles into the microphone. Sheldon winces at the sound but doesn't say anything.

"You can't be born ready. I doubt you were born with a laptop in your hand. If you were I feel sorry for your mother. Or proud of her because if you were you were also a time traveller."

"It's been so long since I played with you. I forgot what an asshole you could be." Wolowizard groans in exasperation.

"Language!" Sheldon yells at him annoyed. "We're playing barbarians, we don't have to act like them."

"We're barbarians! Woo!" he yells and Sheldon sighs.

"Woo, indeed!" he agrees as he lets his brain let go and immerse itself into the fantasy world on his screen. It feels like it's been ages since he's just let loose and done something fun just for himself. They defeat the first quest easily.

"Shall we go to yon tavern and celebrate our victory with a flagon of mead?" Wolowizard asks him.

"Why not." Sheldon sighs.

"There's a hot sorceress chick I've been wanting to meet up with. Maybe she'll be there?" Wolowizard says hopefully as they trek into the town square.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Sheldon gripes. This wasn't the first time he had interrupted their gaming to try and meet up with virtual women. "Besides you don't even know if they're an actual woman. It could be some guy playing as a woman." he reminds him.

"It's still the closest I'll get to a woman tonight." Wolowizard sighs and he sounds depressed. "How about you? Do you have any girls in your life?" he asks Sheldon and it catches him off guard. It's the only time he has ever asked him anything personal. Their friendship wasn't like that. They were friends for the sake of the game. They knew nothing of each other's lives outside of it. Still when he asks the image of the alluring Miss Fowler pops into his mind.

"Of course not." he says instead walking into the virtual bar. "I'm a academic I have no time for romance. Now let's get back to the task at hand."

Sheldon ends up staying up all night playing the game. They finish the quest in the early morning hours. Just as the sun is peeking up over the horizon. After he signs off he looks at the mess around him. He really should clean up. Instead he sinks onto his small couch and covers himself up with a blanket and sleeps. It's a deep pleasant sleep filled with dreams about a girl with dark brown hair and flashing green eyes. He sleeps so long that by the time he wakes up the sun is getting ready to set again.

"I lost an entire day." he murmurs to himself as he sits up.

He cleans up the mess around him. Then he goes to the bathroom and takes a shower and brushes his teeth. When he's out he goes back to the living room and picks up his laptop. He checks his emails and finds that he is disappointed that Amy hasn't sent him anything all weekend. He toys with the idea of sending her an email, but what would he say? Stayed up all night playing a video game so I wouldn't think about you. It worked but then, I dreamt about you all day long? That hardly seemed appropriate. Besides he would see her again tomorrow. He could wait that long.

Amy

All weekend long Amy contemplates Professor Cooper's meaning. In inviting her to a clandestine dinner. She alternates between thinking that he did not mean to invite her at all. He was just informing her to his eating habits. To being very excited about the dinner. Amy wonders if it can be considered a date, Never being on a date before she has no idea what to expect. Or what she should wear. She spends a lot of time dressing up in front of her mirror. Repeatedly frustrated with the result. The business suit she bought for presenting in class was much too formal. The swingy purple dress she found at a local thrift shop and wore once to a student mixer, was too showy. In the end she decides on her normal attire. A khaki skirt paired with a green blouse and brown sweater vest.

The restaurant is within walking distance from the campus. The entire trek over her stomach is churning. She doubts that she'll be able to eat a bite of food. What if she shows up and he's not there? What if he acts like she is crazy for showing up. What if he has another girl with him and she has misread the entire situation? By the time she reaches the place she has convinced herself to turn back. Then she looks into the window and sees Dr. Cooper sitting alone in a booth. He checks his watch and looks at the door almost expectantly. It is enough of a boost to encourage her to walk through the door. He sees her walk through and she is rewarded with his lopsided grin.

The restaurant small, filled with black lacquer tables covered with red tablecloths. Sheldon is sitting at one of the few booths. It's seat yourself and she slides into the opposite side of the booth to face him. He greets her with a smug expression, like he knew she was going to show up any minute.

"Good evening Professor Cooper." she greets him.

"Schools not in session, no need for formalities. Please call me Sheldon." he tells her. "Currently I am taking a break from being a professor."

"Okay. So how are you this evening Sheldon?" she says stifling a giggle it feels funny saying his name. She remembers her study group friends making fun of his uncommon moniker. 'It just sounds like a name a stuffy professor would have. How would his parents know that's what he would be?' Amanda had asked. Amy thought his name was wonderful.

"Very well, how was your weekend?" he asks politely.

"Productive." Amy tells him and he nods.

"Mine as well. I beat a rather challenging quest on Age of Conan." he says proudly.

"Age of what?" she asks him confused.

"Conan, it's a strategic game played online." he clarifies.

"I see..."Amy is slightly taken aback that wasn't the kind of productivity she expected from a professor at an institute of higher learning. Though she supposes that he is still a young man. A young man without many responsibilities for a week.

"With just a few weeks until I present my thesis. I mostly spent the weekend perfecting it. Although I don't ever think it will be perfect to me. I feel like there is going to always be something left to learn, to add. I tend to be highly critical of myself." Then her cheeks color, she has revealed too much. Not being around people that often Amy always found herself over sharing when she was in conversations. Amy picks up her menu to hide her blush.

"We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves." he quotes and looks at her in a challenging way, as if daring her to place it.

"Thomas Aquinas." she says quickly and he looks mollified. It was as if he was giving her a pop quiz and she just passed it. " _On break from being a professor indeed",_ she thinks before changing the subject. "It's nice to be eating out. Usually it's a reheated meal for one at my apartment." she tells him.

"You can eat out alone. I do it every night! You're the first person to join me in a meal since I moved here." he says and Amy wants to expand on that. But the waiter chooses that moment to walk over. The man gives them a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. He looks almost weary at the sight of Sheldon like he expects him to be difficult.

"Back again! I've seen you every Monday for the last four months. Never a friend. Now you bring a friend! That's good to see!" the waiter comments with a hint of sarcasm. "The usual for you." he says and Sheldon nods and hands him his menu."And for the lady?" he asks taking out a pad.

"Pad thai, please." Amy says, sticking with the classics.

"And an order of potstickers." Sheldon adds and the waiter looks at him shocked. " I can finally order them now that I have a guest and they can be split evenly." he says and the waiter nods.

"No special instructions? No questions about the quality of our cooking oil? No, lecturing me on my own culture?" The waiter asks raising an eyebrow.

"No." Sheldon says shortly.

"Very good, it will be right out." then as he turns to leave he pats Amy on the shoulder and bends down to whisper in her ear. "Eat with him every Monday from now on, okay?" he says before walking briskly away. Amy looks after him mystified before turning her attention back to Sheldon.

"You really eat here every Monday?" Amy asks amused.

"Yes, Thai every Monday here, then Tangerine Chicken at Panda East on Tuesdays, a hamburger at The Cheesecake Factory on Wednesday, Pizza on Thursdays…" he rambles before she interrupts.

"How do you stay so thin eating all that junk?" Amy laughs and he looks at her curiously.

"I've just always been thin. Also I don't eat junk every night. I make myself a sandwich on the weekends. Most people comment on me eating the same thing every week." Sheldon mutters.

"That, I understand. On Sundays I cook my meals for the week and I make the same thing for each day every week." she shares.

"You only cook on Sundays?" he asks.

"Well with school taking up so much of my time. Sundays are my only day to myself. So I spent it preparing for the week. In case I get caught up in something." Amy shrugs.

"That's being very prepared." he notes, sounding pleased.

"I like being prepared." she smiles.

"As do I, I detest surprises." he tells her and she nods her head. Just as the waiter returns with their food and leaves as quickly as he came.

They seem to have much in common. Amy wants to bombard him with questions. To know everything about him. Only she doesn't know where to start. What might be deemed too personal? They had conversed so easily in the bookstore. There had been less pressure there. Now it felt like every word would have meaning. Like she was interviewing for a position she wanted. The position of what she didn't know. Friend? Intellectual peer? If she was being honest with herself she wanted much more than that.

"You shouldn't be worried about your thesis by the way. It's brilliant, and that's not a compliment I use often or lightly. I'm not normally a fan of the human sciences, and I found myself fascinated." Sheldon says breaking the silence.

"Thank you, it's mostly the presenting of it that has me worked up. I know my research is solid. That my paper is eloquent. It's just that, sometimes I freeze up in front of people." Amy sighs.

"Another thing we share. I find it very hard to teach my classes if I stare out into the masses too much. I spend most of the time teaching to the blackboard. However I can offer my assistance. If you think presenting to me first will help." he offers before taking his share of potstickers.

"I think it will, you've presented to the board before so I could use any advice you could offer." she replies gratefully.

"I'd be happy to help. Perhaps after the our meal you can come to my classroom. Give a mock presentation and I can give you a few pointers." he suggests.

"Tonight?" Amy gulps.

"Why not?" he shrugs.

"I didn't bring any of my materials with me." Amy tells him.

"So we can stop by your place and gather them. Do you live on campus?" he asks and she shakes her head.

"I have an apartment this year. It's not far from here." she says shakily.

"Let's go then." he says grabbing the check and standing up. He surprises her by footing the bill, If he's paying for her meal than it's definitely a date she thinks nervously.

When they exit the restaurant Amy points them in the direction of her apartment. The night is pleasantly warm but she is still shivering. They walk close together, their arms almost touching. Amy keeps her eyes straight ahead but she can tell he keeps sneaking glances at her and it's starting to make her nervous. Like maybe she has food in her hair. She brushes her hands through it just to make sure. His steady blue gaze is starting to unnerve her. He licks his lips and her eyes follow his tongue with interest.

"I was fascinated by your take on the way we store and process our memories." he tells her. "Having an eidetic memory the subject has always interested me." he blurts out.

"I'm fascinated by your eidetic memory. Do you really remember everything?" she asks and he nods.

"Yes, since I was a young child."

"What's your earliest memory? If you don't mind me asking." she asks him and he looks thoughtful as they walk.

"Not at all. In my earliest memory, I'm in my crib, I'm looking up at my mobile, Winnie The Pooh, and I want it to move but It won't. I reach out my hand to make it move. I can't reach. So I cry out and wake my twin sister who starts crying in earnest. My mother rushes in and picks up my sister and restarts my mobile. Only now I'm upset I wasn't picked up as well. So I start crying. My mother picks me up and rocks us both in a big rocking chair." he looks wistful.

"I don't know what part of that is the most adorable." Amy teases him and he smiles at her. "It's interesting, that is one of the earliest memories I've ever heard of. Although there are some recorded instances of people remembering their own births."

"I am glad I can't remember back that far." he says shuddering and making a face that causes Amy to giggle. "What's your earliest memory?" he asks and Amy thinks.

"I'm three, and I want my preschool teacher Miss Applebaum to put on Clair de Lune. It's played on the harp and I just love it. She only plays it for naptime, and it's not naptime. There is some dreadful children's music playing and I hate it, it hurts my ears. The teacher is busy though and doesn't hear me ask. So I take it upon myself to change the record. She catches me and is very upset. I get put in timeout. It was he first and last time I ever got in trouble with a teacher." They both laugh at that.

"So you have a bit of a rebellious streak?" he asks and Amy laughs.

"I think that was the most rebellious thing I have ever done." she jokes as they approach her building. "This is it. You can stay here if you like. I won't take long."

"I can come up. I'm unfamiliar with the neighborhood. I'd rather not linger on the streets alone." he says looking around nervously.

"Yeah, sure come on up." Amy says feeling nervous as she opens the door to the building's lobby. He follows her to the elevator. When the doors close Amy is acutely aware of how close they are, their shoulders almost touching. Amy feels like she can barely breath.

Too quickly the ride comes to an end. Stopping on the third floor. Amy gets out and Sheldon follows her down the carpeted hall. The door on the left opens and Mrs. Hamilton her neighbor emerges. She quite likes Mrs. Hamilton, an ebullient octogenarian who often invites her over for tea and conversation. Amy has long suspected that Mrs. Hamilton feels bad for her and her lack of a social life. She's always telling Amy about all the gentleman callers she had at her age. How a pretty girl like her should be out dancing every night instead of sipping tea and talking books with an eighty year old woman. Amy has also long suspected that Mrs. Hamilton needed her bifocals adjusted.

"Why hello Amy! I was just going out to play bingo. I stopped by to see if you wanted to come with me earlier."

"Thank you Mrs. Hamilton but I've got company tonight." Amy tells her politely. "This is my friend Dr. Cooper." she says introducing Sheldon. Then she turns crimson. Was he a friend? Was that too personal a moniker for him at this stage of their budding relationship?

"Pleased to meet you." Sheldon says to Mrs. Hamilton shaking her plump hand politely.

"Well I must be going. You two have fun." she says and then as Sheldon turns away she swats Amy and mouths "He's cute!" and gives her the thumbs up before walking away. Leaving Amy bright red and hoping Sheldon didn't notice.

"It's this one." Amy tells him walking to the end of the hall and unlocking the door to her small apartment. Dr. Cooper is the first man she has ever had in her apartment. His sheer maleness seems to overwhelm the small space. He looks all around like he is committing the place to memory. "Make yourself comfortable." Sheldon sits down on her small couch. His long legs knocking against the scuffed coffee table. "Would you like a beverage?" she asks politely.

"What have you got?" he asks picking up a book on her table and thumbing through it.

"Tea, milk, yoohoo?" she says looking into the refrigerator.

"Yoohoo please." he says and Amy takes out a bottle and hands it to him. He sips it thoughtfully as she walks around her apartment gathering her things. "How long have you been here? In this apartment."

"Just this semester. It's just a year lease for a furnished apartment. All I need since I'm almost done and going home." she replies as she stuffs a laptop and folders into her bag.

"Are you happy you're going home?" he asks thinking about his current predicament.

"I'm ambivalent at best." Amy sighs. Truth be told she is not particularly looking forward to going back to California and being under her mother's thumb again. However she also wasn't sure about putting down roots in Boston. Also her grandmother was ailing and she wanted to be close to her for as long as she had left.

"Then why not stay here?" he asks and she shrugs.

"I've been here four years and it still doesn't feel like home." she says truthfully surprised at her own candor. She's admitting things to him she hadn't even admitted to herself.

"I know the feeling." he says. "Of course I spent 21 years in Texas and that never felt like home either." he says and there is a melancholy to her voice that tugs at her heart. She wants to sit next to him on the couch. To wrap her arm around him and tell him that they could be each other's home. That when she is with him she feels more comfortable and at ease than she's ever felt with anyone. Instead. Overwhelmed with emotions she doesn't fully understand she walks to her door.

"I've got my stuff, shall we go?" she asks.

Sheldon

He unlocks the door to his classroom and she follows him inside. It's dark inside and he flips on the lights. He's never been in his classroom at night and feels there is something naughty about it. He's breaking the rules, and it's oddly titillating. She stays at the top of the steps and watches as he walks down to his desk. She looks like she is frozen at the top of the stairs. Maybe she feels like she is being naughty too, he wonders.

"Come on." he says looking at her standing at the top of the stairs.

He bends down at his desk setting up the projector he uses during his lectures. On the way over she told him that her presentation is loaded on powerpoint. She can project it on the the wall, once he sets it up for her. Sheldon watches as she walks down the stairs. He likes the way she moves. Amy is all soft femininity, wide hips and rounded buttocks. He almost wishes he had lingered at the top so he could watch her walk down. Then he chides himself for such out of place and salacious thoughts. He is merely acting as a student advisor for Miss Fowler. No matter than he had never shown this much interest, or one and one attention to anyone he had ever acted as advisor to before. In fact on the few occasion he had acted as a student advisor he had been given low marks for not being helpful enough, or giving enough one on one advice. Whereas Miss Fowler had him bending over backwards to meet her needs.

Sheldon moves to sit down at one of the desks in the front. He crosses his long legs and temples his fingers and rest his chin upon his long fingers. Watching her with interest as she sets up her laptop and arranges her papers. The screen behind her turns purple as she pulls up the presentation. She nervously shuffles her notecards and clears her throat.

"Esteemed members of the board." Amy starts and then clears her throat again. "I'm Amy Farrah Fowler doctoral candidate. I'm here to present my thesis on the Theory of Cognitive Storage." she says and coughs again. She's looking straight ahead not meeting his eyes.

Sheldon notes her posture, her ramrod straight back, giving her a regal bearing. He likes her voice it is husky and it calms him to listen to it. Once she hits her stride she presents her paper without skipping a beat. There is something almost mesmerizing about her. He finds himself fascinated by a subject matter that would normally bore him.

"Thank you, for your consideration." Amy finishes finally looking him directly in the eye. It feels like an electric jolt to his gut. Her wide green eyes looking directly into his. He claps and smiles at her.

"Well done, shall I say Dr. Fowler?" he says and she beams at him. Her smiles does even more to him. Like he would do anything she asks just to make it appear on her face again. He gets up and walks over to her as if drawn by a magnet.

"You think it was good enough to get my doctorate?" she asks him her eyes downcast. He lifts her face up so that she is looking him the eyes. To let her see how serious he is.

"I'm certain of it." he says his eyes burning into hers she looks into his eyes and smiles again, this time more shyly. Then something overtakes him, he is a man possessed as he presses his lips against hers. Softly at first his lips barely whispering against hers. She looks at him blinking and wide eyed as he pulls away. "I'm sorry Miss Fowler, I don't know what came over me." he says and then she is the one possessed as she buries her hands into his hair and pulls him back to her mouth.

This time he grows bolder pressing his lips harder against hers. Her lips part in a sigh and he sweeps his tongue inside her mouth. Amy responds in kind and their tongues dance against each other. He has her pressed against the desk, and lifts her up. So that she is sitting on the desk her legs part allowing him to settle himself between them. The continue to kiss like two teenagers in heat. He pulls off her sweater and begins to unbutton her blouse. His hands exploring her heated skin. Amy puts her hands up his shirts and he helps by pulling them off.

Sheldon takes a moment to marvel at her beauty. At the beauty of their skin when it was pressed together. How they seemed to glow like ethereal creatures in the soft light of the projector. She's looking at him with an expression of lust, that floods him with heat. He's never seen anyone look at him like that. Come to think of it he's never seen a woman topless besides his sister when he accidentally walked into the bathroom after she had showered.

Suddenly he starts to feel overwhelmed. This was too much too soon. They barely knew each other, his mother would be appalled at how he was behaving. Rutting on this poor girl like a horny steer. The words of the dean suddenly echo in his head. Harvard held itself to a higher standard. He was certainly setting a poor example right now. He could get fired over this. Then he would be in his record that he bedded his students. His whole career could be ruined over a pair of flashing green eyes. Was a girl worth losing his career over?

"I can't do this." he says pulling away from her. "I'm sorry, please put your clothes on and go." the looks she gives him almost breaks his heart. He was never good at reading faces, or emotions but he thinks he may have broken her heart too.

Amy doesn't say a word but she tugs back on her blouse and buttons it hastily leaving some mismatched. She grabs her things and fairly runs out of the auditorium, leaving him staring after her feeling lower than he ever had before. He notices that she has left her sweater on the desk. He picks it up and presses it to his face. It smells like her, fresh and soapy. It strikes him that she is like Cinderella only with wool instead of glass. Only he is no Prince Charming.

"Farewell, Dr. Fowler until we meet again." he says softly.


	3. Chapter 3

Amy packs up her last box and looks around her apartment with a sense of accomplishment. It's a small apartment in a nice neighborhood on Los Robles. The building is five stories high and she is on the top floor. The building had no elevator so she had to go up and down five flights every day. Still it was better than living with her mother.

Amy had been back in California for almost five years now. During that time she had been living with her mother and grandmother in her childhood home. Since she was working at UCLA and the commute was easy. It also enabled her to squirrel away enough money to pay off her car in full. Or at least that was her excuse for why a grown woman would choose to live with her mother. Amy also wanted to be close to her ailing grandmother. The woman had helped raise her and she knew that she didn't have long left in this world.

Then six months ago her grandmother had died. Without her in the house, Amy finally felt like it was time to move on. Living with her mother had been starting to grate on her. They were they very different people. From food, to TV, to books, they couldn't seem to agree on anything anymore. Amy's grandmother had a way of smoothing things over between them. With her gone it had felt like they were constantly at odds with one another.

The biggest point of contention was that Amy's mother liked to try to set her up on dates. Every chance she got. So far in the last six months five men had been invited over from her mother's church for dinner. In obvious attempts to make a love connection. When those attempts had failed spectacularly. Her mother had even gone as far to demand she at least try and date at least once a year.

Amy's mom did not respect it when she told her that romance just wasn't for her. How could Amy explain to her why she had no interest? That she had flirted with the fires of romance and had been badly burned. Even though it had been five years she still wasn't over Dr. Cooper. It had been a short affair. Yet Amy was sure that what she had felt with him would be as close as she would ever get to love. Amy knows that she had loved him with her whole heart. That the brief but passionate episode on his desk. Might be enough to tide her over her entire life. Her cheeks still burned and her loins still throbbed everytime she remembered it.

Amy had never told anyone about it. She was too embarrassed. She had never spoken to Dr. Cooper again after that fateful night. Immediately after she had been too embarrassed to contact him. Amy waited a we ek, then she went to his classroom to apologize. It was then she found out he had resigned his post and left campus.

Weeks later Sheldon had tried to email her. When she ignored him he had sent several more. Each time she had deleted them unanswered and unread. She didn't need his pity. It had been clear in his eyes how much he regretted their actions that night. He had given her a simple kiss and she had attacked him, like a crazed woman. It was too bad, Dr. Cooper had been most interesting and she would have liked to get to know him better.

Burdened with the memories of Dr. Cooper, Amy sinks into her newly delivered couch. It felt good to be on her own again after five years of her mother's constant meddling. Even as an adult she dictated almost everything she did. Her life was falling into place. She loved her career. Though she was getting a little bored with the research she was doing at UCLA.

There she was one of many doctors working on an addiction study under famed scientist Dr. Williamson. Sometimes as the only woman on the project she felt like she was being undermined. Like her input wasn't as valued and she sometimes ended up doing the mundane tasks that should be assigned to a lower research assistant. Just the other day she had been tasked with getting the whole team coffee. None of the other doctor's would have been asked to do something so menial.

It was those thoughts that lead her to play around on different university servers looking for new projects. Amy finds a position at Caltech that would be her heading her own research team. The job description also lists teaching one lab a semester in its duties. Amy has yet to teach, but a research position with light teaching duties would be a great way to start.

The chances that she will get it are slim. Still, it's too tempting a position not to try for. So she sends in her resume and hopes for the best. Amy is shocked when someone from the university calls her the next day to set up an interview.

On her way down to her interview she hears voices on the floor below her. She stops in the staircase to listen to what's going on. It sounds like at least three different male voices and one female. One of the male voices strikes a chord. Her whole body feels like it is thrumming, like a string on her internal harp has been plucked. Amy thinks that the voice is that of Dr. Cooper's. Only how could that be? Is it possible that he had found her after all this time.

Amy tiptoes down the stairs and peeks around the corner. Her heart almost jumps out of her chest hoping to hear Sheldon. Instead she sees a blonde girl and two other men. A tall strapping handsome man and a shorter man wearing a pair of thick black glasses. The trio look uncomfortable, like they don't belong to together.

"Well, I better get going." the shorter one says looking nervous, "If I don't get him to work on time I'll hear about it all week."

"Alright, see you around Leonard." the blonde says as the boy walks away looking dejected.

"Is he a friend of yours?" The taller man asks the blonde.

"He's my neighbor." she shrugs. "Listen, you better get going, I've got to get ready for work soon."

"Okay, talk to you soon?" he asks hopefully.

"Sure." she smiles and the man leans in and kisses her. The woman kisses him back but, backs away quickly and gives a tiny wave before duckinging into her apartment. The man walks away and heads down the stairs.

When they are both out of view Amy hurries down the rest of the stairs. She went from being on time for her interview being on the verge of being late. As she makes her way to her car she decides she is happy it wasn't . It had sounded just like her memory of him. When she got close she realized neither of the men sounded like Sheldon.

Amy had been thinking about him so much lately she must have conjured him out of thin air. Then as she pulls away she remembers that the shorter man had said that he had to drive someone to work. Meaning there had been three men on the stairs. Now she tries to decide what she would do if she came face to face with Dr. Cooper again.

Sheldon

Five years since his stint at Harvard and Sheldon was happy with his life. He had his dream job at Caltech, he was living in a spacious apartment. He had even found a friend with his roommate Leonard. Lately however his best friend had been preoccupied with their new neighbor Penny. In fact Leonard had become so enamored with Penny he had little time for anything else.

Sheldon wanted to tell Leonard not to waste his time on Penny. That women were far more trouble than they were worth. That even if he managed to woo her. There was a high probability that she would just rip his heart out and stomp all over it. Five years and he still had not quite recuperated from Amy.

Most of the time he tried not to think about her. Still every now and again the memory of her would swirl to the surface of his brain. The way she had smiled at him, the way she could challenge him intellectually, the feel of her lips against his. He still had her sweater she left, tucked into one of his drawers. Sometimes he still took it out. If he pressed it to his nose he could still faintly smell her perfume. It was hand knitted and he often wondered if she had made it herself.

To this day he still can't figure out what went wrong. After she ran away from him he decided to give her some space. Instinctually he knew he had hurt her feelings. Working from his experience with his mother and sister he knew it was best to give a woman space when she was upset. Sheldon also needed time to process how he was feeling about what had happened. He had never felt that way about a woman. Had never expected to ever feel that way about a woman, or anyone for that matter. There was no denying, however that he felt strongly for Miss Fowler. So strongly, that he was prepared to give up everything to be with her.

Then unexpectedly he got a call from Caltech to come for an interview. He had flown out immediately to California. Getting the job would solve all their problems. Amy would be in California by the summer. They would no longer have an improper relationship. Once he secured the job he flew back to Cambridge and resigned immediately. Then started working on moving across country. He felt there was no need to inform Amy of anything until he was situated in California. It would only be a few months then they could be together.

He hadn't considered that she would ignore his communications. He had written her a ten page treatise titled the Repercussions from our Dalliance. That outlined why he had ended things so suddenly that night. His decision to take the position at Caltech and sever ties with Harvard. Then he laid his heart on the line. Told her exactly how he felt for her and his hope for their future. He waited weeks for her reply, the whole time feeling like his heart was in a vise.

Today while leaving for work Leonard had seen Penny saying goodbye to one of her male suitors. Leonard had been crushed and the car ride was quiet and tense. Sheldon kept quiet on the subject. Knowing that nothing he said would change Leonard's opinion of Penny. Even though he wished he could tell him that no matter what happens with Penny his heart would be broken. Needing distance from his forlorn friend. He breaks off from him when they arrive at work. Sheldon heads toward the personal offices. There is an office opening up soon, larger than the one he occupies now. While walking down the hall he hears a familiar voice, A voice he hasn't heard in five years.

"Welcome to our school Dr. Fowler. I look forward to your work."

"Thank you, President Siebert. I look forward to contributing to your fine institution." he hears her say. He thinks for a moment, that he is imagining things Sheldon presses his back against the wall, not wanting to be seen. He craned his neck around the side of the wall. Watching her as she rounds the corner and disappears. All he saw was the shape of her shoulders and hips, and the swish of her hair. That's all it takes for him to know that it is her. Sheldon marches into President Seibert's office feeling frantic.

"President Siebert, who was that?" Sheldon asks and President Siebert looks at him like he is crazy.

"Excuse me, Dr. Cooper?" President Siebert asks shutting the book he was looking at closed.

"The woman who was just in here. Who was she?" Sheldon demands.

"Dr. Cooper, I don't believe you're privy to that information." he says pointedly.

"It's just that I think I have worked with her before." Sheldon tells him and President Siebert looks confused.

"With Dr. Fowler? When would you have worked with a neuroscientist?" he asks.

"Nevermind, I must have been mistaken." Sheldon says gruffly as he grips the doorjamb.

"Are you are you alright Dr. Cooper?" President Siebert asks worried.

"Excuse me President Siebert, I must be going." Sheldon says racing from the office and to his office.

Sheldon takes out his laptop and powers it on. He types her name into the search engine. For years he thought about looking for her. He had gone as far as looking her up in the phone book, before discovering the Fowlers in California were simply too numerous. After that defeat, he decided that even if he could find her. His time with her was best left in the past. Now he wishes that he had kept better tabs on her. It seems the now Dr. Fowler, had been living right under his nose. Just a bus ride away in Glendale and working at UCLA. He hacks into the universities personnel files and finds her resume.

Sheldon's heart leaps into his throat when he sees the address she has listed for herself. Amy is currently living in his building. Just on the floor above him. How is it he has missed her being so close? Curious he researches it further. Discovering that it must be a recent move. When he pulls up anything else on her it lists an address in Glendale. Before he knows it Leonard is knocking on his door, and he has spent his entire day cyber stalking Amy.

"Ready to go buddy?" Leonard asks him.

"Just a moment." Sheldon says as he closes his laptop and starts packing up. Leonard sits in a chair by the door and pulls out his phone.

"You seem kind of out of it. You get some work done?" Leonard asks when Sheldon is finally packed up.

"Yes, lots." Sheldon answers distractedly.

In the car on the way home they are both quiet. Both distracted by their prospective female troubles, yet unwilling to talk about it. The twenty minute ride feels like it takes forever.

In the lobby Sheldon is distracted by Leonard running into Penny. He is trying to talk to her, without letting on how much it hurt him to see her with another man this morning. He scoffs at how ridiculous he is letting one woman rule his life. When suddenly he feels something brush against him. He looks down angrily, only to discover Dr. Fowler at his elbow trying to get past him to the stairs. Which he was blocking while watching Leonard and Penny's exchange.

"Wait, Amy!" He pleads trying to stop her before she runs away. He realizes that he has shouted it and that Leonard and Penny are now watching them. Amy stops but doesn't say anything she just stares at him wide eyed. "Amy, please talk to me." He begs but she just turns on her heel and runs up the rest of the stairs.

Amy

Knock, knock, knock

Amy answers her door nervously, worried Dr. Cooper will be on the other side. It's only been a few hours since she left him on the stairs. It wouldn't be hard for him to figure out which apartment was hers. Part of her hopes it is him. She had panicked on the stairs and ran. What would she say to him though, after five years and one awkward encounter.

Amy is surprised when she opens the door and sees the blonde from the earlier hallway altercation. Aside from the kaleidoscope of bright colors she is wearing. The girl is wearing contradictory fashions. On the girls feet are a pair of suede boots trimmed with fleece, that might look at appropriate on an arctic expedition. The rest of her body is clad firmly for the summer. With a tank top that exposes much of her cleavage and some of the smallest shorts Amy has ever seen. Amy is sure that she has reached her door in error. Or she is part of some welcome wagon committee.

"I'm sorry, I just moved here. I think whoever you are looking for has moved out." Amy says moving to close the door. The girls face that had been set in a wide smile falls a bit and stops the door from closing.

"Are you Amy?" she quickly asks.

"Yes." Amy says confused.

"Then I'm at the right place!" the blonde beams. "I'm Penny your downstairs neighbor." she tells her motioning to the stairs. The girl is empty handed so she's not part of a welcome wagon committee. Still Amy decides to let her inside.

"Would you like to come in?" she asks warily.

"Sure," Penny says wandering in and looking around. "This is exactly like my apartment." Penny marvels as she looks around.

"Apartments in the same building do tend to have the same floor plan," Amy says gently.

"Oh yeah." she laughs. "Have you been in any of the two bedrooms?" she asks and Amy shakes her head no.

"I haven't had the chance to meet many of my neighbors." Amy tells her, "except for Sheldon" Amy thinks. Who must live somewhere in the building. Two run in's were more than a coincidence.

"Why don't you come have dinner with me and my friends?" the girl asks brightly.

"When?" Amy asks curiously thinking about marking her very blank calendar.

"Right now. I think tonight is pizza night." Amy is taken aback. This is only the second dinner invitation she has ever received and the first one didn't end up very well. Still the girl seems nice enough and a dinner with her and her friends sounds better than the meal she had planned. So she follows the girl out the door and starts down the staircase.

"You're sure they won't mind?" Amy asks worried.

"They won't mind at all. It will be nice having another girl there." Penny says opening a door to one of the apartments.

"Hey everyone! I brought a friend! This is Amy she's new to the building and lives in the apartment above now." Penny explains as she grabs two bottles of water from the refrigerator.

"Hi Amy!" say a chorus of voices. Sitting around a coffee table are two young men who look to be around her age. Nervously Amy moves inside the door going to sit on the couch. She chooses the seat in the middle. A small man in bright clothes is in the one seat, and the other seat with a striped pillow propped on it looks otherwise claimed.

"Howard Wolowitz." the boy next to her says extending his hand. Amy moves to shake it and he grabs her hand and kisses it. Amy jerks it back grossed out by how unsanitary it was to kiss a stranger's hand.

"Amy Farrah Fowler." Amy says tersely. "Have you lived here long?" Amy asks him trying to make polite conversation.

"Oh, we don't live here." Howard tells her pointing at the other boy who as yet to say a word. "This is our friend Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. They're just out getting the food."

"Sheldon you say?" Amy squeaks as the door to the apartment opens and Sheldon walks in.

"Sorry we're late. It's Leonard fault." she hears his unmistakable voice say.

"It's not my fault, Sheldon." The small man besides him begins to argue, but Amy doesn't hear what he says. Like a deer in the headlights she is frozen. Staring at the subject nearly all her dreams for the last five years. It appears Sheldon has stopped listening to him as well. He is looking at her like he has just seen a ghost.

"Amy! What are you doing here?" he exclaims dropping the bag he was carrying. His exclamation unfreezes her mind and she pops up and brushes past Sheldon and his friend at the door and starts running up the stairs tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Amy! Amy!" she hears a voice calling behind her. It is Penny hot on her heels.

"Why did you invite me there?" Amy spits at her angrily. "Are you guys trying to make fun of me?" she asks stopping at her door.

"Make fun of you? What? I was trying to do my friend Sheldon a favor." Penny says confused by her reaction.

"How is bringing me there a favor? I'm sure I'm the last person in the world he wants to see." Amy sniffs and wipes her eyes.

"Actually, I think you're the only person in the world he has ever WANTED to see." Penny tells her looking desperate.

"You don't know that." Amy says sadly.

"I do though! Please can I come inside? Let me explain better?" she begs and Amy shrugs and lets her inside. They sit on her couch. "Okay look, I haven't known Sheldon all that long. I just moved into the building six months ago. However in the six months that I've lived across from him and Leonard. I have learned this. Sheldon doesn't like most people. Sheldon doesn't have emotions like other people. I've never seen him happy, or sad, or mad. He's basically like a robot man."

"Your point is?" Amy sighs. She knows all too well how cold he could be.

"Ever since he saw you at his job, and then on the stairs he has been... different." Penny says pausing.

"Different how?" Amy asks softly.

"He is sad because he loves you! He has been moping around for hours. Leonard says ever since you ignored him on the stairs when he tried to talk to you. He has locked himself away in his room. He's even talking about getting a cat." Penny says like this is definitive proof of his affection. Amy fails to see how a possible feline acquisition equates to love.

"Listen Penny, I don't think his feelings have anything to do with love. More than likely he feels guilty." Amy says to her gently.

"Guilty?" Penny asks her curiously.

"I'm going to tell you about my history with Dr. Cooper. Then maybe you'll understand why I ran out of that room." Amy sighs.

"Please." Penny says eagerly tugging her legs under herself like a child getting ready for story time.

"Alright, five years ago I was finishing up my doctorate at Harvard. During that time Dr. Cooper was working as a professor at the school." she begins.

"Oh my god! Was he your teacher!" Penny squeals. "I bet he was your teacher! Was he a mean teacher? Did you get him into trouble."

"No, he wasn't my professor." Amy tells her. "However he did have a reputation for being a mean teacher." Amy says a smile cracking on her lips.

"So how did you meet?" Penny asks getting more impatient.

"He knocked all the books out of my hands." Amy tells her and Penny looks confused. "On accident, of course. After that I kind of developed a little crush on him. I kept seeing him around school not knowing he was the infamous professor everyone kept complaining about."

"Oooo! A crush! Now we're getting to the good part." Amy grimaces but continues on.

"One day I saw him in a bookstore. I had been pining after him so long I decided to talk to him. We kind of hit it off. We ended up talking for a long time and it came to pass that he was a professor at the school. Being a doctoral candidate, I wanted his input on my thesis. So Dr. Cooper offered to look it over for me."

"So far… boring." Penny complains and Amy gives her a 'just you wait' look.

"Dr. Cooper invited me out to dinner. During the course of dinner he offered to hear me present my thesis. I was nervous about presenting to the board and Dr. Cooper having two doctorates was qualified to give me some pointers." Getting to the hard part Amy takes a deep breath.

"So far, I'm still not seeing where everything went wrong." Penny sighs.

"After I was finished. Dr. Cooper congratulated me. Then one thing lead to another and…" Amy hesitates as her cheeks start burning.

"And what!" Penny says excited.

"He kissed me." she mumbles quickly. Penny screams so loudly Amy jumps in her seat and wonders at the girls sanity.

"Then what happened!" Penny asks eagerly.

"Then I fairly attacked him. We started tearing each others clothes off like wild animals. We came very close to copulating on his desk." Amy says as she casts her eyes down shyly.

"And you didn't… umm copulate?" Penny asks gently.

"No, he pulled away. Told me 'I can't do this. Please put your clothes on and go'." Amy says miserably. Penny goes from gleeful to putting her hand over her mouth in shock. "Then I got dressed and ran out of there more embarrassed than I have ever been in my entire life." she groans.

"Did you try and talk to him about it? Maybe he didn't mean it the way you took it?" Penny reasoned. She couldn't imagine Sheldon being so cruel. Then again Penny never thought he would be capable of making out with anyone.

"If his words didn't show me. His actions did. I went to speak with him. Apologize for my actions, and I found out that he had resigned from his post and left campus." Amy points out.

"What?" Penny replies shocked.

"Yes, he tried to email me a few weeks later. But I deleted them unopened. I don't need is pity." Amy says stubbornly.

"Amy, maybe he was trying to explain?" Penny asks gently.

'Doubtful. The subject line was Repercussions from our dalliance." Amy huffs.

"I understand how you feel. Still I think you should talk to him. All I know is he has been really broken up over you, and you both deserve closure." Penny reasons, as if on cue there is a series of three raps on the door.

"Amy and Penny, Amy and Penny, Amy and Penny." the voice asks urgently after each knock.

"That's Sheldon." Penny tells her.

"I guessed." Amy says dryly.

"Will you please just talk to him?" Penny pleads.

"Fine, let him in." Amy shrugs nonchalantly. But inside she was a bundle of nerves at the thought of being alone with Sheldon again.

 **One more chapter and then THe epilouge! Leave a review and tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

(Three hours earlier)

 **Sheldon**

Sheldon lays on his bed curled on his side. In his head he is carefully reviewing every interaction he has ever had with Amy. Trying to figure out how he made her hate him. He was used to people not liking him. Normally he didn't care what people thought about him. When it came to Amy he cared deeply. She's the only person he has ever wanted to like him, and it seems now she despised him. His eyes feel like they are beginning to prick with tears. It's an uncomfortable sensation and accompanying emotion. It doesn't help that with his eidetic memory he can remember every detail of their interactions. The look on her face the first time they met. The way her fingers curled around her cup at the book shop. Her open innocent face, the way she could look at him and make him feel like the most handsome and interesting man in the world. Now she looked at him like he had four heads.

Sheldon hears a knock on the door and he knows it's Leonard. He doesn't want to talk to Leonard. After Amy abandoned him on the staircase Sheldon simply didn't have energy to explain to Leonard. Who Amy was and why a woman was running away from him like he was a serial killer. When they returned home he locked himself in his room

"Hey sweetie, can we come in?" he hears Penny ask.

" _Great,"_ he thinks now Penny is involved. "Do whatever you want." he answers and his door opens and Leonard and Penny walk in.

"Hey buddy, are you okay?" Leonard asks him tentatively.

"I'm fine. I'm just questioning all my life choices and thinking about buying a cat."

"Buying a cat?" Penny asks. "Sweetie, that doesn't sound fine."

"You hate cats Sheldon." Leonard reminds him gently.

"Things change Leonard. You think you've finally met someone who understands you. Then boom! They can't even say hello to you on the stairs."

"Who was that girl Sheldon?" Penny asks him sitting on his bed. He doesn't answer her. Not knowing how to describe what Amy was to him. He knew her only briefly, yet she was one of the most important relationships he's ever had. Also he knows Penny will over react.

"No one." he answers.

"You wouldn't be acting like this if she were no one." Penny says patting his back making him recoil from her unwanted touch. He just shrugs and moves away from her hand. The only person who had ever been able to touch him without making his skin crawl was Amy.

"Why don't we go to the lego store. Then pick up dinner?" Leonard asks him gently. "Wolowitz and Raj are coming over."

"Can we go to the train store instead?" he asks him getting up. Thinking that maybe a change in scenery will ease the ache in his heart.

"Whatever you want Sheldon." Leonard tells him and they leave and go to Leonard's car. Once they are on the road Leonard tries again to coax out of him what happened. "Are you going to tell me who that was?"

"Did I ever tell you that I taught at Harvard?" he answers staring out the window. He knows he hasn't. He tries never to think of his time on the east coast.

"No, you were a Professor there? I thought you hated teaching?"

"I absolutely abhor it." Sheldon agrees. "Hence the cross coastal move."

"Was she one of your students there? Did you flunk her? That would explain why she's so mad at you." Leonard asks laughing. Sheldon shakes his head.

"She wasn't a student of mine!" he snaps at him. "She was, I don't know what she was actually."

"Did you date her?" Leonard asks confused. In all his years of knowing Sheldon he had never expressed any interest in dating.

"Define dating?" Sheldon asks him.

"You know going out, sharing a meal, kissing…" Leonard leads and Sheldon looks contemplative.

"According to those parameters, yes, she and I dated." he says sourly putting air quotes around the word dating. To classify how he felt about Amy as dating seemed to broad a definition. What he had felt for her was so much more, than just a casual date like his friends go on.

"So which part? The sharing a meal or the…" Leonard asks and Sheldon cuts him off.

"All of it" he says curtly closing his eyes trying not to think about the feeling of Amy's lips against his.

"So you… Wow… I didn't know you had any interest in dating." Leonard asks him floored by his friends confession.

"It was only, very briefly." Sheldon explains.

"What happened if you don't mind me asking?" Leonard asks tentatively.

"I do mind. I don't much feel like talking about it." he huffs. Not wanting to explain because talking about it brings him pain. Also because he isn't quite sure what did happen.

"That's fine… we won't say anything else about it." Leonard sighs as he slips his phone out of his pocket and texts Penny. ' _I think Sheldon is heartbroken?'_ He sends her. It takes only a few seconds before Penny sends him back a text. He fills her in and a plan to reunite the two former flames is hatched. If only for curiosity sake.

 **Sheldon Present time at Amy's door**

"Hello Dr. Fowler...Penny..." Sheldon says as the door opens. Penny looks aglow with excitement and Amy would rather shrink into the wall. With the way her new blonde friend was acting you would think she was getting a gentleman caller.

"Good evening ." Amy says quietly. Penny makes a high pitched squealing noise and claps her hands together. That makes both Sheldon and her look over at her.

"I am going to leave you two love birds alone." Penny says and Amy cringes. It's been a long time since they were anything close to love birds. She doesn't need Sheldon feeling forced to be with her.

"We're not…" Amy starts.

"Love birds.." Sheldon and Amy finish together. but it's too late Penny is sneaking out the door and shutting it behind her. Amy looks at Sheldon happy at least they are in sync on one thing. Even if that one thing is making her heart pinch in her chest.

"Are all the neighbors here as invasive as her?" Amy asks Sheldon. And he smiles at her shyly. He turns to face her and she has to look up to see his face. She had forgotten how he towered over her.

"Not as invasive as her, but you'll find she has a way of making herself somewhat endearing." Sheldon says wryly.

"Oh." Amy says worried. "You two are close?"

"Not by choice, my roommate is quite infatuated with her. Personally I don't see the allure." he admits and Amy is mollified.

"So its been awhile." she says shifting her feet. "Since we last talked." she finishes gulping and looking down at the floor. She can feel his gaze burning into her.

"Yes, it has… and I believe most of the blame for that is on you." Sheldon says and Amy looks up at him as he crosses his arms. Staring down at her with his haughty professor face on.

"Me?" Amy says indignantly her face flushing with anger. She forgot how arrogant he could be.

"I know you're mad at me Amy, the thing is I am clueless as to why? I've never been good at reading human emotion before. All I know is I gave up everything for you. Then you disappeared on me." he growls out.

"I disappeared on you? You are the one who pulled a Houdini." she replies in disbelief.

"Did you know that Houdini took his stage name from magician Robert-Houdin, whose autobiography inspired him?" Sheldon says Amy knows he is trying to break the tension. Their relationship had been formed on a mutual love of knowledge.

"That's an amusing factoid, but not what we are discussing presently. I'm talking about the fact that you asked for space and I gave it to you. Then when I went to talk to you. You had resigned from your post and moved all the way to California. Without saying even a goodbye." Amy says with her voice cracking at the end embarrassing her.

"Not saying goodbye was a mistake. However I only did what I did so we could spend more time together without worry of persecution. I resigned my post so what happened between us wouldn't affect either of our careers. Then I accepted a post in California because I knew that you would be returning home soon." He explains with a deep sigh.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this? You didn't even try to contact me again until weeks afterwards." She says sadly.

"That was a mistake. However, in my defense I assumed that I had time. That you would understand when I laid everything out for you. Then we could reunite once you had your doctorate and were home for the summer. Why did you never respond to my emails?" Sheldon asks curious.

"I never read them. I deleted them without ever opening them." Amy admits hanging her head.

"Why didn't you read them?" he asks hurt.

"I was scared." she whispered as tears form in her eyes.

"Scared of what?" Sheldon asks confused.

"Of everything! Of what you would say, of losing you completely before I ever even had you. In our brief time together I never felt more alive. I wanted to keep it exactly how I remembered it. Untainted by the words I imagined you were going to say to me." Amy confesses.

"If you had just read the emails then you would have seen I laid my heart on the line. That everyday you didn't answer my heart closed back up. Since you I haven't opened up like that to anyone else. You broke my heart Amy, and you did it again when you wouldn't even say hello to me on those stairs." He says hanging his head.

"I didn't mean to break your heart. Not back then and certainly not now." Amy tells him looking at him with wet eyes, almost spilling over with tears. This was the first time she had ever been accused of being a heartbreaker and she wasn't sure she liked it. "The thing is Sheldon is that you broke my heart too. When you sent me away that night. I was so hurt and embarrassed, I know that you had your reasons. It was so long ago you don't need to explain to me what happened anymore." she says pausing.

"Alright, just know that it had nothing to do with you. Amy you had much less at stake than myself but we both could have lost a lot had things not been taken care of properly. I tried to take care of it properly so we could continue. So our relationship could proceed unencumbered! I followed you all the way to California. I wrote you a dissertation outlining my feelings for you and the repercussions I expected from it. Only for you never to speak to me again. If you had no feelings for me, you should not have lead me on." Sheldon replies seriously.

"I never lead you on. My feelings for you were… are stronger… than I can even begin to process." Amy says weakly.

"Then why did you disappear?" he asks and the hurt in his voice makes Amy feel like she could crack in two.

"Why don't we sit down?" Amy says sitting on her couch and he follows her sitting with his long legs pressed against her knees. "I think that this has all been one terrible misunderstanding. Somehow we both feel that the other one has been abandoned."

"I suppose that is true." Sheldon agrees.

"When you told me, to put my clothes on and leave that night. I was so hurt, and embarrassed. I never thought I would be able to face you again." She says shyly.

"Why?" He asks thoroughly confused.

"I had thrown myself at you! Obviously making you uncomfortable." Amy says miserably.

"No, I had forced myself on you and I was feeling conflicted. As a man and as a Professor. My morals and my ethics were in question. I needed time to process the choice I was making." Sheldon says looking at her with pleading eyes.

"What did you decide?" Amy asks cautiously.

"That I made the wrong decision." he says.

"I see." Amy says sadly.

"In stopping, what was happening." he finishes and she looks up at him shocked.

"Really?" She asks hopeful.

"Yes." he admits. "I have never felt the way I felt about you, about anyone else. I don't expect to ever feel that way again. When I lost you I felt such acute pain…" he trails off closing his eyes. "I never wish that experience again." he says gently picking up her hand softly in his. His hands are cool and hers are hot. Two opposing forces meeting.

"I know how you feel. I knew I would never meet anyone like you ever again. My mom has been threatening to make me date." Amy groans at the thought of her mother.

"You've seen other men?" he asks jealousy creeping into his voice.

"Not like with you. Never like with you." she sighs glancing longingly at his mouth. That's why when you rejected me…"

"I could never reject you." he says softly.

"I know that now. However back then it was so easy for me to believe, because I never understood what you saw in me. It never made sense. It only made sense that you didn't want me." Amy mumbled shyly.

"Amy, you are the most incredible woman I have ever met." he says staring into her eyes making her body quiver all over.

"How do we proceed from here?" she asks and he leans in close to her face making her breath catch in her chest.

"Well." he purrs brushing her hair out of her face. "How do you feel about rebooting our relationship to the last point we both agreed it worked. Like as in a computer?"

"What point would that be?" Amy whispers as his lips brush against hers. "Oh!" she moans softly.

"Is this point agreeable?" he murmurs against her lips.

"Very." she agrees wrapping her arms around his back as he presses her against the back of the couch. He kisses her deeper and more confidently than the last time. It feels like they are making up for lost time as their lips and limbs tangle in desperation. Amy's hands search under his shirt for skin and he moans against her mouth as her hands work against his taut muscles.

"Amy." he whispers his lips pressed against her ear.

"Yes." she answers sliding her lips from his ear to his neck.

"I pride myself on being a gentleman. If we keep this up I might find that difficult." he warns her his blue eyes looking at her sternly as he pulls away from her.

"I don't mind." she assures him.

"You deserve better than an over-sexed tumble on your couch." he says seriously.

"You're right." Amy agrees sheepishly. "I guess you should go." Amy agrees sitting up and straightening her clothes. Sheldon looks at her sadly.

"You want me to leave?" he asks.

"Honestly, no." she admits, the idea of him leaving again causing her pain.

"Then maybe we should discuss the new parameters of our relationship?" he suggests.

"That could take awhile." Amy says smiling.

"Perfect." Sheldon answers with a grin.

 **The Next Morning**

Sheldon sneaks back into the apartment in the early hours of the morning. Tiptoeing to avoid his roommate and the obvious and annoying questions that would follow his discovering him not sleeping in his own bed.

"Good Morning Slut." he hears someone say and he screams, making Penny squeal with laughter as she sips her coffee.

"What are you doing here?" he asks her annoyed.

"Why are you sneaking in your own apartment in the same clothes you wore last night?" Penny asks her eyes dancing behind her cup of coffee.

"I asked you first." Sheldon says annoyed.

"I have the early shift at work and I was out of coffee. Your turn." Penny says with a smirk.

"Fine… I spent the night at Amy's." he huffs.

"Yeah you did." Penny giggles.

"There was no sleeping involved!" Sheldon shouts quietly not wanting Leonard to wake and tease him relentlessly.

"I bet there wasn't." Penny sniggers from behind her mug.

"It's not like that! I love Amy too much to disrespect her with a tawdry night of lovemaking!" Sheldon yells at her as he storms to his room.

"You love her?" Penny yells after him as he slams his bedroom door. "Holy crap on a cracker." she exclaims to herself shaking her head as she lets herself out of the apartment. "I didn't know that he could love."

 **Two weeks Later**

"Do you think he is asleep?" Amy asks as they sneak into Sheldon's apartment. Like they have been doing almost every night for the past two weeks. Except for that first night they spent talking all night. Sheldon has made it a point to sneak her in after Leonard has gone to bed and always making sure she is back in her own apartment by one.

"One way to find out." Sheldon whispers back before shouting. "Amy! I can't believe you would say neuroscience has more real world applications than physics."

"I think it's clear that neuroscience has more real world applications. Its the science of the brain. The thing you use to study physics!" Amy counters loudly and Leonard comes out of his room putting his jacket on.

"You guys have fun, I'm going out." He says picking up his keys.

"At this hour?" Sheldon protests.

"I'm going to Howard's." he tells him. "We are working on a project, I might be gone all night."

"Fine, it's your life." Sheldon says throwing his hands up. Then he listens to hear Leonard's feet go down the stairs. "I thought he would never leave." he sighs, before he grabs Amy and walks her backward to the couch kissing her.

"You do know you could just stay at my place." Amy whispers in his ear as they collapse on the couch in a tangle of limbs. "Then there would be no need for this charade."

"Then run the risk of another inquisition in the morning?" Sheldon asks her.

"Is it so embarrassing to have your friends know you are with me." Amy asks voicing the concern that had been in her mind since they reconnected. They spent a lot of time together. They texted, and emailed constantly in the time they were not together. Yet Sheldon seemed reluctant to declare their relationship as anything other than just friends to anyone else.

"It's complicated." he tells her staring into her face and going for another kiss which she dodges.

"You are not my Professor anymore. How complicated can it be?" she asks seriously.

"To be fair, I was never your Professor. Luckily… you would make a terrible student." he tells her playfully.

"A terrible student?" she says trying to squirm away from him. "I am an excellent student. Top of my class as a matter of fact."

"Not to me, you would be willful, always questioning and challenging me. I would have to make an example of you." he growls.

"What would you do?" Amy asks him biting her lip.

"I would have to bend you over my desk and spank you." he says his eyes sparkling as he hitches her leg around his waist and gives her a playful smack to demonstrate."

"I don't think that would be an effective punishment Professor Cooper." she whispers against his ear.

"Why ever not?" Sheldon says shivering at her warm breath.

"I would always be thinking of new ways to raise your ire. It would be so distracting that I would learn nothing in your class." Amy says seductively as she playfully tugs his earlobe with her teeth.

"So you agree you would be a terrible student." he says turning his head to kiss her again. They kiss until their lips are swollen and bruised. When they break away Amy lays her head on his chest.

"Not fair, you distracted me." she pouts.

"Easily distracted, another reason you would make a terrible student." he teases.

"Only for you." she agrees.

"Only for you." Sheldon repeats. "That's the issue Amy. This side of me. The Dr. Sheldon Cooper who spends his Saturday nights making out like a teenager behind the bleachers. Is a side of me I never thought existed. A side of me that I was quite proud that I lacked." He sighs. "I made quite a big deal about how I was more evolved than me peers for not engaging in illicit activities. To admit that I am not as evolved as a previously thought. Well it's a lot of crow to eat."

"Am I not worth eating crow for?" Amy asks worriedly.

"Amy." he says and then pauses struggling to find the right words. It's rare for him to lack words. Everything about himself when he's with her is rare. "You are worth everything to me. I was ready to give up everything for you before. I am prepared to do it again."


End file.
